The visitor
by melles
Summary: Takes places some years after "Lost son", season three. Horatio gets a visitor and is quite surprised as he learns more about the man.


**CSI: Miami**  
Fanfiction

Author:Melles

Notes:Hi! I had this idea some time ago and I don't know where it came from. What I do know is, that Rory Cochrane's character Tim Speedle is very interesting. All mistakes in this story belong to me (at least something that belongs me), everything else is owned by CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and only God know who else. Please read and review!

And be kind to me because of my English – I come from good ol' Germany, but I hope you get along with the story. A big "Thank you!" to Jessi84, my co-writer and beta-reader. Without her this story wouldn't be as quite as good as it finally turned out.

Pairing:Not in this one, sorry.

Rating:General, I guess.

**The visitor**

The boy entered the Crime lab gingerly and looked around, searching for something or someone. But since he had never been there before, nothing was familiar to him and that made him nervous. It was the first time ever that he sat foot on a facility like this; he never had any trouble with the police before in his life. Yet he was here now, although his reason to be here was purely his own wish. How he would gain his goal though - he still didn't know. His decision had been made rather quickly even if his plans had been made some time ago. It had taken some time to find his way through this huge building, but now he seemed to be on the right floor. But being so close to his goal he noticed, that he became more and more unsure and he began to pace around.

That didn't go unnoticed by Paula behind the desk and she looked at him questioningly. "Can I help you?"

The dark-haired boy turned around terrified, and had to swallow his lump before he could answer. "Uhm, yeah…no…I'm not sure."

Paula was now in full alert. "Are you looking for someone?"

Slowly he walked to the woman. There was no way back, he knew this, and yet he had a hard time finding the right words. Mostly because he couldn't tell how the person he was looking for would react after finding out that he was here. "Yeah, I'm looking for someone," he nodded. "Does a Tim Speedle work here?"

Hearing that name, the friendly smile shortly disappeared from Paula's face. "Why do you ask?"

"So he really works here?" At least the woman didn't say anything against it, so it seemed that he was on the right way. "I…I wanted to talk to him…f-for a minute or so…I m-mean if that's possible, Ma'am," he stuttered because the change in the woman's face irritated him.

Paula didn't know what she should reply. She carefully eyed the boy who couldn't be much older than 15 or 16. "I…I'm gonna make a call, alright? What's your name?"

Without hesitation he answered: "Lucas Turner."

"One moment please. You can take a seat over there, how does that sound?" she said while dialing the one and only number she could think of - the one from Lt. Horatio Caine.

***

About 5 minutes later Horatio appeared at Paula's desk and talked briefly with her in a calm tone. It was a very uncommon thing that someone came here looking for Tim Speedle. Therefore he wanted to know what was going on.

"It's that boy over there, Lt.," Paula explained to him and pointed into the right direction. "Says his name is Lucas Turner."

Horatio nodded in understanding, never leaving the boy out of his sight. "Okay, thanks Paula. So let's have a talk with him and find out why he's here."

"You're welcome, Lt."

Without any hurry Horatio walked towards the boy and took a seat next to him. "Hi…you are Lucas Turner?" he asked him calmly and bent a bit forward.

Lucas studied the older man with the red hair curiously and couldn't take his eyes from him. Did he find the one he was looking for? Inevitably he drew comparisons. "_Mhm, somehow I had a different picture in mind,"_ he thought before answering. "Yes, Sir. So…then you are…Tim Speedle?"

"Uhm…no," Horatio shook his head. "My name is Horatio Caine. I'm the dayshift supervisor of the crime lab. Why don't you come with me in my office, so that we can talk about…Tim…Speedle…?" That was a novelty even to him…using that name in full length. "Let's go there, okay? It's a much more private place you know?"

Lucas knitted his brows. "I don't understand…I just want to talk to Mr. Speedle?"

"That I'm aware of, son…," Horatio nodded and stood. He knew that he didn't leave much choice for Lucas, but it was the best considering the situation. "Come with me and then we talk about him, okay?"

Did he have any other option? No. He went all the way from New York down here to Miami and it seemed he found another piece fitting into his puzzle. The only thing was that he still hadn't talked to the man he was looking for. He shrugged with his shoulders. "Okay."

"That's great." He placed a hand on the young man's shoulder, directing the way down the corridor towards the Trace Lab. He saw Ryan working in it and suddenly that felt wrong. "We have to go upstairs", he explained and a few seconds later they entered his office. "Well…," he started after they sat down on the couch, "may I ask you why you want to meet Tim? He never mentioned the name Lucas Turner." At least he hadn't heard that name and he had no clue how to connect that boy with Speed.

Lucas tried to memorize everything and looked around, because he found it very interesting to see the lab. Horatios' voice brought him back to reality. "Uhm, I…just wanted to see him," he said and that was no lie, but wasn't sure if he also wanted to talk to Tim. "Is he here?" Until now he didn't know that for sure because it seemed that nobody wanted to answer that question.

"No," H shook his head sadly. "He worked here…for many years. Why do you want to see him?" He also insisted to get an answer.

"Oh." Lucas lowered his head in disappointment. So his mission wasn't as successful as he wanted it to be. But what had he really expected? The man probably would have denied him because that's what he already did all those years ago. As Lucas looked up again, he saw the blue eyes from his counterpart and knew the Lt. still waited for his answer. Nervously he chewed on his lower lip before he decided to explain some things. "It's possible that he's…my father."

To say that Horatio was shocked was an understatement. He had to look away to stomach the words and licked his dry lips. "Are you sure about that? That he's your father? Speed never mentioned to me that he has a son." It sure had to be a joke. A very bad joke.

"All I have is a birth certificate," Lucas said and searched in his pocket for this precious piece of paper. "I'm adopted you know?," he explained because the man had the same strange look like the woman down at the reception. To talk about his family was no problem for him, because he had discussed it with his parents on more than one occasion. Then he frowned. "Speed? Who do you mean?"

"Speed…is…was…the nickname for Tim. Mainly because of his last name Speedle and because he owned a yellow Ducati…with whom he broke a few speed limits that I'm sure of. He had the tendency to come too late to work," he said with a faint smile as he studied the copy he held in his fingers. "I…don't know what to say…you are in fact Tim's son…" That was unbelievable…unbelievable sad.

Since he wouldn't be able to meet his biological father in person, Lucas tried to get some more information at least. "Do you know where he works now?"

"He doesn't work at all…" Oh, that was hard. So much harder than the moment he had to call Tim's parents all those years ago. He hated this kind of phone calls. Always had. "Speed…died 5 years ago in the line of duty. We worked a case, were ambushed and ended up in a gunfight. Unfortunately…he… didn't make it." Still to this day he had nightmares and he knew that those would never quite end.

It took some time for Lucas to understand the words. But he didn't know how to react, simply because that man was after all a complete stranger to him. Still he felt sad. Maybe he had met him today…and maybe had the chance to talk to him. But now…all his efforts were meaningless. He took the copy of his birth certificate hesitantly and put it back in one of his pockets. Still he didn't know what to do next. One thing was for sure - he would need a very good excuse for his parents. Mainly because they didn't have a clue where he was at that very moment. "I…should be going, then," he said softly. All of the sudden, an idea appeared. "Do you…have a picture?"

"Of Tim? Yes…in fact, I do. Wait a minute." Quickly he stood and went towards his desk where he kept some framed pictures. As a quiet reminder of better days. "You know…when I think of it…now you really look familiar. You and Tim have some similarities. The same hair. I bet there's nothing you could do to tame it, right? It just sticks out in every way, huh?" Horatio smiled gently and gave him a photo. "That was taken just around the time I became the supervisor of the lab…your Dad was here long before me…he worked at the Trace Lab, just beneath this office…," he explained without hesitation. "That's him, right beside me." With his index finger he pointed to Tim who seemed not too happy about being photographed. As always.

As Caine talked about the hair, Lucas' hand went automatically to his head and ran through the dark locks. "Mhm, yeah, that's right." His heart rate sped up a bit as Lucas starred curiously at the man. For the first time in his life he looked into his biological father's eyes, although he would have preferred to meet his father in person. He tried his best to memorize all the details and was quiet for some minutes. "Was he a cop? He doesn't wear a uniform. Neither do you."

"We are Crime Scene Investigators. But we are also policemen. He was a Detective…" Horatio would have shown the badge to the boy, but it now belonged to Tim's parents. "And that's him on his Ducati…Calleigh Duquesne is sitting right behind him. She works here too and no - they were just really really close friends", he explained and smirked. "And because we aren't any street cops, we don't wear uniforms. Your Dad was the best Trace expert I ever worked with; he was even one of the best experts in the US. He studied Biology back in New York. That's where he came from, by the way." But still he didn't get it…how was it possible that Tim had a son? He would have told him, Horatio knew that.

Lucas nodded and absorbed the information he got. Within minutes he'd learned a lot about his father and it seemed that Lt. Caine had a lot more to come. "I'm from NY, too…wow…I didn't know that he was from there also. That's pretty much anything I know about him. Mom once talked to my…mother…but she didn't want to see me and all she could tell about my father was that he went down here to Miami to work with the police. Well, past tense, I mean. Guess he liked bikes, huh?" At least he looked very happy sitting on the yellow machine.

"Oh yeah, absolutely. That was his biggest hobby. And to be honest, I miss that sound. You know, that bike wasn't really quiet and if your Dad was late for work – which happened on more than one occasion - then the whole lab knew about it because of that sound of the bike when he came rushing in." He had to laugh softly as the memories came back in his mind.

"Did you know him well?" Right now his interest was awakening and he wanted to know more about his father. Surprisingly that was far more than he originally had been looking for.

"He was my best friend." That was true and because of that it had been very hard and painful to have to watch him die in his arms. But on the other side it had been very important for him to be there also. "We got along very well. Your father was very, very sarcastic, had a really dark humor and I liked that a lot."

A smile appeared on the boy's face. "Mom always says that I sometimes sound very sarcastic and that she doesn't know where that comes from. Guess now it's obvious, isn't it?"

"Yep, that's a typical Speedle attitude," Horatio nodded. "You know…I mean I'm not absolutely sure about this, but…I don't think that he knew about you Lucas. If he had…he would have cared for you. His rough exterior concealed a heart of gold. He never would have denied you or sneaked out of his responsibility. I know that's cold comfort, but…I'm sure he would have held contact with you."

"Really? But still he gave me away," he mumbled and gave the pictures back to Horatio. "Thank you, Sir." After a few seconds he squinted his eyes, while it seemed that he deliberated about something. "You were with him? On this case? Where you were ambushed? Was he…how…is he, uhm, was he shot?" Lucas asked shyly.

"Yes, that's right," Horatio nodded. "He…his weapon malfunctioned. I was with him when he…died, he wasn't alone." That was very important in his eyes. "He's also buried here in Miami, because here he found his new home and…" He stopped and shook his head as he saw Tim's blood on his hands once again in his mind. "I can't believe that he gave you free for adoption willingly. There had to be a reason. Speed left New York a long time ago and maybe he didn't even know that your mother was pregnant with you."

This aspect was new to him and Lucas nodded. "Maybe you're right. But we will never find out the real reason," he sighed and looked at Horatio. "He's…buried in Miami? I thought that he, well, that he's buried at…home…"

"Miami is, was his new home. He left New York as a young man. I guess that must have been just right before you were born. Maybe even earlier. I think he never went back, although he missed the winter and the snow each year."

Lucas stood up and considered the words as he slowly walked towards the big glass windows from where he could see the Trace Lab below. For a some minutes he just stood there, thinking. "I love the winter too," he said finally, never taking his eyes away from the lab. Even if he came here with little expectations he now found it interesting to talk with the Lieutenant. "How long do you work here?"

"As a supervisor? About…9 years. I was with the Bomb Squad before and before that with the CSI and before that with the police," Horatio answered honestly. "Why do you ask?"

The calculation was made fast. "Then you knew him for four years…did Mr. Speedle have a family here? A real one, I mean." From all he had learned within the last hours, he still couldn't call him more than at his surname. Even now after he found some things they had in common.

"You mean, if he was married and had kids? No, neither wife nor children," Horatio shook his head. "He said that he had plenty of time for that and…unfortunately that time wasn't given to him," Horatio sighed and bowed his head. That sentence from Speed should have warned him. It had been like a sign, but still he didn't get the clue! "It wasn't because he didn't want a family. More that he tried to find the right one, you understand? And thinking about this I'm still not convinced that he gave you away just like that. That's not him."

Lucas turned around so that he could look at Horatio. "Actually I just wanted to see him, I didn't plan on talking to him. And somehow…that's what happened. I only did see him on the pictures and I didn't talk to him. But now…I would have loved to have a word with him," he replied quietly, his head bowed and his fists stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. "But it's too late for that I guess."

"Yes…," Horatio answered quietly and felt sorry for the boy. And he felt sorry for Tim, too who wouldn't be able to meet his son. But then…Horatio was very happy that Lucas existed because that way Tim Speedle would remain immortal. "I wish I could have told you something else, believe me," he continued and stood up. "If you give me your address…I can send you some more pictures…if you want to of course," he offered.

Lucas' eyes went wide. "You would do this, Sir?"

"Of course. That's not a problem. I have some pictures at home and my colleagues too. I'm sure I can arrange something Lucas. This way you have at least a small memory of your father…even if that will never replace him."

"That would be very nice of you," Lucas nodded, deeply moved by the offer because that came unexpected. He looked at his watch. "I think I should go. I'm keeping you away from work, Lt. Caine."

"That's okay Lucas. We are a big family around here, Tim was…and still is a part of it. Which means you are a part of it, too," Horatio smiled and placed a hand on the boys' shoulder.

Lucas smiled back and looked up to him. "Thanks. Can I…can I call you? I mean, if some questions come up? It's a long way from NY down here to Miami. And I don't think that Mom and Dad would allow me to do the drive if they find out." Basically they wouldn't make any trouble, but it would be more than understandable if they would forbid the drive alone with the car.

"Oh yeah, sure," Horatio nodded quickly and grabbed a business card from the pocket of his jacket. "Here you go. That's my number from the lab where you can reach me most of the time." But then he frowned. "Wait a minute…your parents don't know that you're here? You drove all the way down here by yourself? With the car?"

As he heard the worried undertone in the voice from Horatio, Lucas stopped in the midst of his movements. "Uhm…yeah?" he grinned, but cursed himself because he gave his secret away without thinking about it.

"Oh no." Horatio just rolled with his eyes. "You are indeed a real Speedle and because of that you are going to call your parents. Right now. I'm sure they are already worried about you." That easily could have been done by Speed himself, no doubt about that.

"B-but…but…," he protested however only half-heartedly. Aware of his guilt he let his shoulders slumb.

"No buts here, young man. It's either me or you calling your parents. But I doubt that they will be happy to receive a phone call from a police officer, what do you think?" Without waiting for an answer Horatio picked up the telephone and held it towards the boy. "Alright, now…do it. You really came by car?"

Slowly Lucas made his way to the desk from where he took the telephone receiver. "That's right. But if I do tell them that right now…I'm never ever going to be allowed to drive again," he whined.

"Well the one thing I know is, that you are not going to drive back tonight. At the earliest tomorrow morning." Darkness was already setting in and Horatio would certainly not allow him to start a 20 hours drive. "They probably already figured it out and now - call them. The longer you wait, the worse it will be, believe me," Horatio smiled gently and tried to convince him.

"They are not even at home probably," Lucas tried again. "They drove away and I…did so short time after. I didn't want to stay here that long, actually." That was all he got for an explanation because he had planned to think about a better one at his way home. That this plan wasn't as brilliant as he thought it would be…he realized now. His youthful foolishness was evident more than ever.

Thoughtfully Horatio rubbed his forehead and shook his head. "Call them anyway. Just to be sure. Nevertheless I'm not going to let you drive back home tonight. I would prefer that your parents are going to come down here to pick you up. So that you don't have to drive back alone." In this regard he seemed a little bit too cautious, but he couldn't help himself. This was Tim's son and he would never be able to forgive himself if something would happen to Lucas. Just because he made a wrong decision.

Sighing, Lucas bowed his head. "I screwed up, huh?"

"Yep. That's a long way down here for someone at your age and without the permission of the parents…," Horatio confirmed. "Now call them. If they want to talk to me I'm more than willing to do that. And after that we're going to eat something. I bet you're nearly starved to death." If the boy was just a little bit like Speed, then Horatio would be right.

The prospect of a hot meal made Lucas smile. "I could eat a horse," he nodded before getting a bit more serious. "I like that. It could be considered as my last meal," he mumbled and started to dial.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Horatio grinned and sat down on his chair, never taking his eyes from his guest . He enjoyed the sight, because he was sure he already found similarities between Lucas and Tim. If Alexx would know about the boy, she would definitely freak out. In a positive way of course. It was no secret that Alexx had a special relationship with Tim ever since, even beyond death. However Horatio didn't want to meet with the team yet, because he knew that that would be too much for the boy right now.

After a few minutes Lucas hung up, still a bit ruefully about the whole telephone call. Luckily Horatio had done some negotiation so that his parents weren't as furious as Lucas had assumed. But knowing where their son was, had calmed the Turners and speaking with Horatio who promised to keep an eye on him, finally made them agree that Lucas would stay overnight. He looked at the redhead, who sat in his chair obviously enjoying the sight. "Okay, I did my part. But now I want my reward," he said, his eyes glistening mischievously.

"You are indeed your father's son," Horatio laughed out loud and stood up. "How about a burger?" he asked while he turned off the desk light. "I happen to know the perfect restaurant with the best burgers in the whole city." Tested and verified by the one Timothy Speedle.

"Yeah, burgers would be great," Lucas nodded full of anticipation and followed Horatio who was almost at the door. But before he could open it, Lucas stopped short, held out his hand. "Uhm…thank you, Sir. For your help with my parents and that I can stay at your house overnight." His voice was serious and he meant it that way. His inconsiderate actions could have ended much worse that he was sure of.

"That's okay. Like I said, you are Speed's son, so you belong to the family." It was just as easy as that and the others certainly would say the same. "And call me Horatio. Your "Sir" only reminds me that I'm old…," he smirked as he shook hands with Lucas. "I think we should get going. I don't want you to end up nothing but skin and bones, partner."

A mischievously grin appeared on Lucas' face. "And we don't want that to happen, do we?" Not until then he realized that his answer also fitted the hint from Horatio concerning his age and he grinned even broader. "You're only as old as you feel. Always look on the bright side of life, they say." By now he got a bit more confident and his teenager personality came out. After all those years filled with unanswered questions he now had learned in a single day more than he ever dreamt of. Plus he was sure that this meeting with Horatio wasn't the only one. And he really looked forward to it.

"I AM thinking positive…its my bones who think otherwise…," Horatio laughed and it almost felt like he was talking to Tim again. Something he thought would never be possible again. As they entered the front of the building, Horatio looked up to the sky, into the stars and held up his thump. Lucas was safe with him and Speed didn't have to be worried. If Tim couldn't look out for his son, then Horatio - as his best friend - would take over that task. Who, if not Horatio himself, was able to tell the most embarrassing yet the most wonderful stories about him?

The end


End file.
